[Linux-aus] Request for Grant from Linux Australia for Ubertweak

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On Tuesday 12 September 2006 23:17, Tim Ansell <mithro at mithis.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-09-12 at 12:41 +1000, Elspeth Thorne wrote:
> > Ubertweak is a Christian camp for high school kids that
> > is run (at present) twice a year in Winter and Spring, and has been
> > running since 1996. Our parent organisation is Scripture Union
> > Queensland.
>
> I have to admit that as a non-Christian this makes me a little uneasy.
>
> I thank you for being open enough to clearly mention in the proposal
> that you are a Christan camp.
>
> >From your website it appears that the camp is clearly for the promotion
>
> and furthering the Christian faith.
>
> For example, on the Leader section:
>         It is a requirement of Scripture Union camps that leaders be
>         committed christians involved in annual scripture union
>         leadership training events.
> and on the A Day in the Life of section:
>         9:00am Where else should God be but first in our lives, and our
>         day.
>
> I don't think it would be appropriate for Linux Australia to provide
> funds for an event which specifically has the purpose of promoting a
> specific religion (or even no religion, such as an atheist event).
>
> PLEASE NOTE: The above is MY opinion of the matter and does not reflect
> in anyway, anyone elses opinion.
>
> I have no problem with the usage of FOSS software and tools for the
> further of people individual faiths.

I am normally *very* sensitive to such matters, and I am a strong advocate of 
a separation of religion and organisations like governments.

With that said, these camps sound absolutely fantastic, going by the 
description given here. They sound like an excellent avenue to teach free 
software. By that I don't just mean its technical capabilities, but also its 
community aspect and its philosophy. I believe that this can be tied in very 
well with religious groups, which generally also prize the concepts of 
community and sharing.


-- 
Sridhar Dhanapalan
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